Posts tagged biology
An idea I'm toying with for a sci-fi story is a species where the individual organisms are colonies of smaller eusocial organisms. The idea initially came from "hey if a bunch of single-celled orga...
This is a submission for the Anatomically Correct Series some characteristics of the Manticore include: having a lion like body having wings are tetrapods having a scorpion like tail being carn...
In my story Orcs, humans, and a bunch of other fantasy races live along side each other and i'm curious as to what evolutionary pressures would to a group of divergent hominids to evolve into Orcs?...
This is a submission for the Anatomically Correct Series Gargoyles are a staple of Gothic architecture and I've decided to give these creatures the time of day. Gargoyles are closely related to Ny...
This came out of a discussion of an all female colony world, but I'm interested in the more general version of this question. Is there any function in society that requires male levels of strength ...
Okay so i have this world that is inhabited by an alien race that outwardly is basically undistinguishable from an ordinary earth-human. Due to the specifics of this planet they live on they can br...
We are in a far future setting where humans (or transhumans I should say) achieved two things: be able to modify themselves genetically to the point where they can have completely different organ...
I recently read that not only would a creatures digital DNA need to be stored but its mitochondria and microbiomes DNA needs to be stored. A previous questions answers mentions epigenetic structur...
Recently I got the idea that my humanoid race should have hydrophobic skin, because it sounds cool, and perhaps would help to maintain hygiene. However, on the second thought, I am not so sure. Wo...
Body: Boron-based lifeforms that use ammonia as a solvent and respires methane & hydrogen, with an atmosphere of mostly methane, hydrogen, nitrogen and in smaller percentages, acetylene & ...
So for this question there's a Mad Scientist/Dark Lord that wants to engineer a race that can out breed mankind and carry him to victory. He has access to sufficiently advanced genetic engineering...
So there's this man that was born 1,000 years ago, but today he's still living and he's (biologically) 28 years old. He just stopped aging at that age. He is not immortal. He has been hurt in wars...
There is a planet called Galileo with life on it. The life is getting extremely complex, in fact, with some of the life on Galileo beginning to form tribes and clans and learning language. Humans w...
Here a laser raptor Pew Pew'ing in its natural habitat and timeline. (From the Kung Fury movie) So I want to know how a biological organism can develop to spew laser beams through their eyes. W...
bucking the trend of mermaids I've decided to take a different approach with my mermaids. A long time ago a group of Australopithecus diverged from us taking to the sea. some characteristics of the...
From what I know about the periodic table, in order to add a new element it would have to be above the current highest element. And up there this new element would be unstable. But could I just re...
Would it be possible for an alien species to have liquid nitrogen for its blood? What would be required for that to work? What kind of environment would it need to exist in?
In my story, all the fauna in the planet (basically Earth) has been instantly killed, leaving only flora and fungi. How long will it take before the effects start to show, and how long until all th...
Living in polar climates can be quite difficult, and staying warm can often be such an issue. But not anymore with the heat sponge! This nifty little organ draws heat from even the coldest water to...
A domestic terrorist organization has come to light due to recent terror attacks that they claim responsibility for. This group has developed a biological weaponized plague that attacks the nervous...
Let us assume we have a rocky planet by the name of Pyros orbiting a single star, the Star of Random. It has an atmosphere consisting of 77% methane, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapor, and 1% other gases...
I will be making several posts on this community regarding questions which involve the design specifications of an alternate human species I designed. Because I'm not a biologist, and I have no ide...
Let us assume at some time in the near future, medical science perfects a biologically safe liquid air solution. It can fill up the lungs of the adult human subject and they can breathe it potentia...
In many fantasy settings, a race of mushroom creatures are often encountered. They may or may not look humanoid but still have the biology of fungi. My question is how. How can a mushroom be mo...
I fear this question may be somewhat premature as I'm suddenly skipping forward to a period in the species' history that is comparable to our own, a far cry from my last question about the building...
I once read a novel about a prison-planet which was chosen to make the prisoners suffer. One of the different "tortures" was a gravity three times higher than that on Earth. Would the human body s...
So my character (16 yr old girl) got a deep cut (inches across) from a dagger across her torso and is knocked unconscious. (She falls onto her back) She had just enough time to contact her friends ...
At the risk of almost repeating a question I asked some time ago... Scenario: A character has been cured of a deadly disease, but all records of the cure have been destroyed (files, actual meds, e...
I need the biggest brain I can realistically get, how big is it and why? I've done a bit of research. I know we (humans) have big brains. We've even got big brains compared to our weight (encephal...
My question is: what needs to be changed in the body of my genetically modified people so that they can safely drink toxic water ( most often industrial wastewater is contaminated with industrial w...
Currently, NASA is investigating the use of hydroponics, aeroponics, and other low soil techniques to grow regular plants for consumption and oxygen generation/CO2 removal on long voyages in space....
While pondering "Can radioactive moon affect life on a planet?", I got to wondering about plants that send out a tight beam of ionizing radiation. What kind of evolutionary pressure might lead to s...
Is it possible for humans to survive on the surface of the Earth, assuming the Sun was, for some reason, not emitting any light/heat/other radiation? Would whether the Sun was actually present affe...
In an alternate version of our world, lycanthropes and vampires were introduced about 300 years ago and are coexisting with us. Unfortunately, they had to adapt to our cuisine and avoid certain ing...
This pure-blood vampiric race is not immortal, but their lifespans are about five times that of mortals. This race has lived in a vast city beneath a small mountain range for thousands of years (th...
So I was surfing this website which gives rpg stats for various fictional characters in various media, when I came across this character called "The Frenchman" who apparently uses biofeedback to bo...
Wait ... what? Basically, this: Most land predators on Earth use their mouths to kill their prey. That is, they have to stick their precious, irreplaceable heads into harm's way every time they ...
In the waters of Iceland, the natives have their own word for a particular brand of cetaceans--"Illhveli", literally "evil whales". And the bloodthirstiest of them all is Raudkembingur, Icelandic ...
When developing a medival fantasy realm, especially one with no known healing and restoration magic, one may need to develop the people's understanding of science and medicine. A unique example of ...
Some humans have been genetically engineered to be able to detect ionizing radiation to better survive the harsh environments found outside of earth's protective magnetosphere. What could be the ph...
A sentient species of water-dwelling aliens achieve space-flight. Their living quarters contain water [no free gases]. They have evolved over millions of years to regulate their buoyancy at will...
In plenty of stories you have beings who age incredibly slowly and are technically immortal. I have a handful of similar such beings who have through some means or other attained the benefits of he...
In my setting there is a civilization that has a decisive advantage in a fundamentally agrarian world; a crop of exceptional yield and nutritional value. Would it be feasible for a plant to have ...
In my setting there is a civilization that has a decisive advantage in a fundamentally agrarian world; it is consistently more efficient in its choices of crops and livestock. Rodents reproduce fa...
Consider the following situation: Over the last 2 to 3 years, all the world's birds and bats outside of those in human captivity or domestication have stopped getting sick; sick - even terminally s...
Ever since Tolkien most, if not all, works of fiction including orcs portray them with tusks. Though this achieves the effect of portraying them as animalistic, what would the real world applicatio...
I read a theory once which stated that the natural pain, sickness and general discomfort that humans can experience during sex, pregnancy, and childbirth help control the human population by discou...
I recently look at a question on this site that questioned if a "world tree" is feasible, Would a 'World Tree' be feasible in real life?. If i remember correctly, it stated that one way to distribu...
One of the veggies that my Keplerians grow is peppers. I have heard of some sweet peppers cross pollinating with hot peppers making the sweet peppers hotter and the hot peppers sweeter. However tha...
The Megapodes are a family of birds in the galliformes order. They live primarily in Australia and are notable in being extremely precocial and laying more eggs than any other bird. They build larg...
